In This Life
by wooster182
Summary: Facebook is a battlefield. Gio makes some life decisions after checking his own Facebook page. This is a Gio story, not a Getty story.


This is dedicated to Beatrice, whom I'm guessing did not expect this sort of fic when she asked me to write one, but really inspired me to write it. B, I hope you like it. I haven't decided if this is a oneshot. I guess it depends on interest. It takes place sometime in S3.

The title of this fic is a direct reference to the series finale of Dawson's Creek and there is one line in this fic that is verbatim a line that Pacey says at the end. I'm referencing, not plagairizing. :)

……………………………..

Sitting down at his computer in the office in the back of the deli, he grumbled as his butt settled into the leather seat, filling out order forms and answering emails. He hated computers. Never learning to type, it took him forever to find what he wanted because his fingers pecked at the keys one at a time. Giovanni Rossi was a man of action. Instead of emailing someone, he'd much rather call or stop by to get what he needed. Computers were so impersonal, not like him at all.

But he realized that computers were also practical. If he wanted to keep a successful deli running, he'd have to know what the hell he was doing with one. And his sister kept reminding him over and over again just how useful a computer and the internet could be. After all, she was the one that had talked him into putting himself and his business on the insipid site Facebook.

He had thought that it was the silliest idea he had ever heard but to appease his parents' eldest child, he did it. And it had paid off. It had given Gio's Deli a much needed boost in free advertisement. The site didn't seem so bad after all.

Until she had friended him.

The day he saw the notice in his inbox, he could hear his own words ringing in his ears. _I spent the whole day with you, breathing the same air. It wasn't so bad. I guess it was stupid banning you from my life. _But now she had requested being his friend. She had once again sent him an olive branch, this time officially in print. As his chest tightened and his hearted squeezed into a hard ball, he thought his words didn't feel so stupid now. He wasn't ready to know her again.

But he wasn't about to look like a whiny, angry pussy again. Not in front of her. So, he had taken a deep breath, let out a rather offensive Italian curse, and hit the accept button.

Nothing much happened for a few weeks after he had friended her. She didn't try to contact him, obviously still giving him space. And he wasn't about to contact her yet. But with each new day, he found himself staring at her profile page, smiling back at her bright grin, reading each new excited message on her wall. He would wake up each morning, thinking about what her day would be like before he even thought of his own. And in all this time, he didn't contact her.

Until this morning. He sat there now, uncomfortable and anxious in the computer chair. He wasn't ready to give her up just yet. Maybe. Maybe if they started out just as friends, without any rush or complications, like they never really got to do before. Maybe if there was no Henry this time. Maybe now that she knew him for who he was and not who she thought he was. Maybe that friendship would build a foundation. They were different people now. They had to be. She was more focused and away from childish fantasies. He was now much less petty and angry. Maybe they could finally have a chance.

Biting his bottom lip, he clicked on her profile page. He was just about to send her a message when he saw a little red heart underneath her wall. His heart fluttered and his throated tightened into a clump as he read what was next to it: In a relationship with Matt….

He didn't even take the time to read the guy's last name. He felt numb for a few moments, letting the news wash over him like black death. Then in seeped the pain as it needled through his guts, weaving knots of anguish as it went. The pain turned into embarrassment. How stupid was he? Not only had he let fantasies of being with Betty Suarez cloud his judgment and break his heart once, but now again! Even though he was alone, he felt as though thousands of eyes watched him, as if he were in the Coliseum itself while a bloodthirsty crowd cheered on the lions ripping him to pieces.

But then the embarrassment turned into heat. And the degrees went up until it was white hot anger. He knew it was no one's fault, but he was damn pissed off. He had heard from some of the pencil pushers up in accounting that Henry was off gallivanting with a chick in Peru…or a Peruvian chick…he hadn't really paid attention. The point was, Henry in all of his pleading for Betty to marry him had already moved on. And now so had Betty. The two people who had made such a big deal about them being together and the pain of being pulled apart were now distant memories to each other in exchange for the new people in their lives.

And here he was—just the roadside debris—his world crashing once again. He had been the bystander. The man waiting in the wings for the inevitable breakup of this Romeo and Juliet and now he was the only one that still gave a damn about the whole ordeal. He was the only one that hadn't moved on. There was something wrong with that equation and it made him sick.

It was time to stop this. He was the only one that was still getting hurt by all of this ridiculous drama and he only had himself to blame. Himself, and stupid fucking Facebook.

Taking out the rosary in his desk, he said a prayer asking for Betty to be happy. He also asked, "Please, Father, take this burden from my heart. Forgive me of all my anger and foolish ideas. Help me to focus on what I need: my family, my business, and my life without her." He finished the appropriate Catholic sayings and put the beads back up. Shutting off the computer, he let out the long breath he had been holding and stood up.

He put his apron on for the day and headed to the front of the deli. He was determined to be happy in this life. What he saw at the front door stopped him in his tracks. Amanda Tanen was sobbing outside of his deli. He rushed to the door and unlocked it. "Amanda? You okay?"

"I don't even know why I'm here," she squeaked between sets of tears. "I promised myself I'd never cry to cute, poor boys."

He gritted his teeth and nearly said another prayer for patience. "Then why are you here?" he asked, guiding her gently to the stool near the counter, the very stool Betty used to frequently perch.

Amanda, unaware of Molly's sickness, sniffled into the tissue Gio handed her. "I found the engagement ring order Daniel made for Molly. This is the second woman he's proposed to in three years!"

His brow furrowed. He was trying to understand. "And you wish it had been you," he added softly, understanding the emotion.

"In three years, he can find two women he wants to marry but he couldn't even commit to a week full of dinners with me." She waved her hands about, staring off past the counter. "What's wrong with me?"

He looked into her pretty, watery eyes and his heart twisted—but not due to his own problems this time, but for hers. "There's nothing wrong with you," he said, rubbing her back softly. "People just don't always feel what you want them to feel. And it sucks."

She nodded. "You're not going to tell anyone I had this breakdown, right?"

He smiled at her perfectly arched eyebrow and frowning lips, the quintessential Amanda look. "Of course not."

Her features softened into a smile and she sniffed tears back. "That's why I came down here to you," she said, not adding that it was also because he was the one person she knew understood how she felt.

He gave her a slight nod, his lips turning just a hair upwards, the quintessential Gio look. "No problem."

Cocking her head to the side, she said, "I was also hoping for a bagel. I tend to eat carbohydrates when I'm emotional."

He chuckled. "Let me go heat one up." With his back to her, he turned to look at her. "Hey, who's running the phones?"

Cheekily, she threw away the tissue and said, "I don't know. MODE really need to hire someone to do that."

His chuckle turned into a deep laugh that contagiously caused Amanda to giggle like he had never seen her do before. He wasn't sure about in this life, but right now, he felt a hell of a lot better.

……


End file.
